For the July-September quarter, the company earned $27.4
million, or 32 cents a share, compared with $36.3 million, or
42 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, the company earned 37 cents a share.

Revenue for the quarter rose 6 percent to $358.7 million.

Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn 40
cents a share, on revenue of $357.9 million, according to
Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the full year, the company cut its profit forecast to
$1.38-$1.40 a share from $1.43-$1.53 a share.

Animal hospital revenue increased 7.5 percent to $276.7
million, helped by acquisitions made in the past one year,
while laboratory revenue decreased 0.8 percent to $77.3 million
hurt by a decline in the number of requisitions.

Medical Technology revenue in the third quarter increased
30.7 percent to $17.4 million in the quarter, the company said.

The company's shares which have fallen 4 percent since the
company reported results in July, closed at $22.07 Thursday on
Nasdaq. They touched a high of $22.31 in the day. (Reporting by
Rajarshi Basu in Bangalore; Editing by Vyas Mohan)